ely. One day he called the people together in the Field of Mars.
But suddenly there arose a frightful storm, with such terrible thunder
and lightning and such midnight darkness that the people fled homeward
in affright through the drenching rain. That was the last of Romulus. He
was never seen in life again. He may have been slain by enemies, but the
popular belief was that Mars, his father, had carried him up to heaven
in his chariot. All that the people knew was that one night, when
Proculus Julius, a friend of the king, was on his way from Alba to Rome,
he met Romulus by the way, his stature beyond that of man, and his face
showing the beauty of the gods.

Proculus asked him why he had left the people to sorrow and wicked
surmises, for some said that the senators had made away with him.
Romulus replied that it was the wish of the gods that, after building a
city that was destined to the greatest empire and glory, he should go to
heaven and dwell with the gods.

"Go and tell my people that they must not weep for me any more," he
said; "but bid them to be brave and warlike, and so shall they make my
city the greatest on the earth."

This story satisfied the people that their king had been made a god; so
they built a temple to him, and always afterwards worshipped him under
the name of the god Quirinus. A festival called the Quirinalia was
celebrated each year on the 17th of February, the day on which he had
vanished from the eyes of men.

_THE HORATII AND CURIATII._

Romulus was succeeded by a king named Numa Pompilius, of Sabine origin,
who so loved peace that during his reign Rome had no wars and no
enemies, so that the doors of the Temple of Janus were never once opened
while he was on the throne. He built a temple to Faith, that men might
learn to avoid falsehood and to act honestly. He taught the people to
sacrifice nothing but the fruits of the earth, cakes of flour, and
roasted corn, and to shed no blood upon the altars. And so Home was
peaceful and prosperous throughout his long reign, and grew rapidly in
wealth and population. He died at length when eighty years of age, and
was succeeded by Tullus Hostilius, a king of Roman birth.

The new king loved war as much as the gentle Numa had loved peace. Under
his rule the gates of the Temple of Janus were soon thrown open again,
long to remain so. His first war was with the city of Alba Longa, the
foster-parent of Rome. Some border troubles brought on